Oh My God! What a Ride!

Yesterday we rode from Hoi An, through Da Nang, over the Hai Van Pass, through the City of Tombs, and into Hue, the Imperial City. What a ride.

Da Nang is a hugh city with a beautiful beachfront. Third largest city in Vietnam after Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh. Getting through it was a chore. Once through it the main road A1 splits. One section enters a long tunnel through the mountain. Most of the trucks and cars take that route. The other, older route climbs up and over the mountain in a series of breathtaking switchbacks. The Hai Van Pass. Here's a link to a short video of our experience: https://photos.app.goo.gl/47nufLKydgxqqyM16

The shot with Augie in his buff is taken where the guys in Top Gear stopped to take in the magnificence. Top Gear was a car show hosted by three British guys. In one episode they were sent to Vietnam to buy vehicles to travel the country. https://youtu.be/tMnPtQc2pok. The joke was that were only given enough Vietnamese dong (7,000,000) to buy used motorbikes. The main hack, Jeremy Clarkson, hated motorcycles. The Hai Van Pass is where he learned to love them. Enough said.

After the Pass we split off the main road and headed up a sand spit running some 50 miles. The whole area is completely covered in tombs. Everyone in Vietnam seems to aspire to being interred in this place. Mile after mile. It is a bit creepy. The route is also a favorite of some of the bicycle tours that run in the area. We must have passed 100 cyclists in one 10 mile stretch. Good thing it wasn't too busy. One group of young travelers decided it would be a good idea to take some photos in the middle of a bridge.

In the afternoon we arrived in Hue. Augie worked on his grad school applications and I took a nap. Not bad...Read more